Press feeding apparatus



June 18, 1968 c. D. RoB|soN, JR

PRESS FEEDING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed July 50, 1964 INVEN OR: (2g/afs 5w/gdr. QQ@ Wn fny ATTORNEY June 18, 1968 c. D. RoBlsoN, JR

PRESS FEEDING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 50. 1964 N .mw

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June 18, 1968 c. D. RoBlsoN. JR

PRESS FEEDING APPARATUS Filed July 30, 1964 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 .77 if; IIZ

PRESS CONTROLS United States Patent O ce 3,339,038 PRESS FEEDING APPARATUS Charles D. Robison, Jr., 1718 Church St., Nashville, Tenn. 37203 Filed .lilly 30, 1964, Ser. N0. 386,293 12 Claims. (Cl. 156-361) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus for .feeding sheet material to a press for laminating the layers of material into a composite product, including a roller remote from the press for feeding a lower web toward the press, a second roller between the remote roller and the press for feeding an upper web above and along the lower web toward the press, means between the two rollers for depositing adhesive upon the the top surface of the lower web, and a vertically disposed magazine for depositing one board at a time upon the top of the lower web to which the adhesive has been applied, but prior to the passage of the lower web beneath the upper web.

This invention relates to a press feeding apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for automatically and continuously feeding materials to a press for forming laminated products, such as looseleaf binders.

`Heretofore, the formation of many laminated products, and particularly looseleaf binders, has been accomplished by hand feeding or loading a dielectric press -with the different layers of materials for operation of the press upon the materials.

In the art of making looseleat binders, a dielectric press is employed having a stationary lower platen and a reciprocable upper platen having a sealing die or dies fastened to the bottom surface of the upper platen. The operator of the press lays a bottom sheet of fusible plastic, such as vinyl, slightly larger than the die, ilat upon the lower platen. The operator then places one or more pieces of pasted, chip board or other filler in a predetermined location on top of the bottom sheet of plastic. Then a top sheet of plastic, substantially the same size as the bottom sheet, is placed on top of the chip board. The operator then presses the start button on the press to thrust the upper platen down upon the layers of material. When the upper platen and die are properly seated upon the lower platen, timing mechanisms control the press to hold the upper platen in this position while radio frequency waves are transmitted through the rnaterial for about two to. six seconds to fuse the top and bottom plastic sheets together, completely enclosing the boards or ller. The upper platen is then automatically raised and the completed binder removed by hand. The cycle is then repeated.

it is therefore an object of this invention to overcome the laborious and time-consuming manual feeding of the layers of material to a dielectric press for making laminated products, by providing a novel method and apparatus for automatically and continuously feeding the materials to the press.

One object of this invention is to provide a method of automatically feeding a press with layers of material so that each layer is introduced at a different station and pre-assembled for fusing when they enter the press.

Another object of this invention is to continuously feed first and second webs of sheet material to the press, beginning at different stations, and depositing the ller material upon the bottom web before it reaches the second web feeding station.

Another object of this invention is to provide novel means for automatically inserting VIillers or boards between continuous webs of sheet materials for the Iformation of laminated products.

3,389,038 Patented .lune 18, 1968 A further object of this invention is to provide means for assembling and feeding web sheet material and tillers to a press, and for automatically indexing the materials to register with the press platen.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and economical method of mass producing heat-sealed, looseleaf and other type book binders more rapidly than heretofore known.

Another object of this invention is to provide adjustable means for feeding layers of material of different sizes to a press to form laminated products of correspondingly different sizes.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the invention in inoperative position;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view of the magazine and reciprocable support. table in an inoperative position;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 of the magazine and table in a rst operative position;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 Iwith the magazine and table in a second operative position;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the notch `forming mechanism;

FIG. 7 is a section taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. `6;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary top plan view with the top web broken away showing the indexing switch finger engaging the notch;

FIG. 9 is a section taken along the line 9 9 of FIG. 8; and

FIG. l0 is a schematic diagram disclosing the electrical circuit for automatically controlling the invention.

eferring now to the drawings in more detail, and particularly FIG. l, a dielectric press 15 is mounted on a supporting frame 16 and includes a stationary lower platen 17 and a vertically reciprocable upper platen 18. rlhe type of press illustrated is a Thermatron dielectric press of the Willcox and Gibb Sewing Machine Company, such as their models KIOOS and B-I6B (generator and press combination). Such a press 15 includes its own control mechanism for raising and lowering the upper platen 13, -for causing the upper platen 18 to dwell in its down, sealed position upon the lower platen 17, and dor generating and transmitting radio frequency energy across the platens 17 and 18 to fuse the laminated materials. Since the apparatus disclosed in the drawings is particularly designed for forming looseleaf binders, a die 19 of the required shape, is attached to the bottom surface of the upper platen 18. The upper platen 18 is adapted to be reciprocated by a hydraulic cylinder 20 and piston 21, and the cylinder 20 is double-acting so that the high pressure air conduits 22 and 23 alternate as inlet and exhaust conduits, respectively.

Mounted adjacent and adjustably connected to the frame 16 by means of adjustable turnbuckles 26 is the feed apparatus support frame 27, mounted on rollers 28 for movement toward and away from the press frame 16. The upper ends of the right legs 29 (FIG. l) comprise a bracket 30 in which power driven rolls 31 and 32 are rotatably journaled for alternately supplying ya first or bottom web 34 of sheet material of fusible plastic, such as vinyl. The rolls 31 and 32 may be driven by any convenient means, such as the belts 35 and 36 engaging corresponding pulleys 37 and 38 -and driven from a motor 39, mounted on the frame 27. In order to eliminate excessive tension in the bottom web 3ft, the rolls 31 and 32 are driven continuously until the web loop 34 descends to its dashed-line position disclosed in FIG. l, where it engages a micro-switch Ait) for automatically assunse stopping the motor 39. When the loop 34 rises, it releases the micro-switch 313 to re-start thc motor 3%.

After the web 34 passes over the supporting idler roll 41, adhesive is applied to the top surface of the web 34, by any convenient means, such as the spray nozzle 42. The liquid adhesive is fed to the nozzle 42 through a pipe 43 from a tank 44 supplied with air at low pressure through pipe 45. Another method of applying adhesive to the top surface of the web is to run the web in contact with an adhesive or glue applying roller to apply the Cit adhesive in narrow longitudinal strips on the web 34. An-

other method of applying adhesive to the web 34 is to -roll onto the top surface continuous narrow bands of plastic tape having pressure-sensitive surfaces on both sides of the tape.

After the bottom web 34 passes over the idler roll 41 it is fed across a vertically reciprocable table or plate 47 supported on a piston rod 4S reciprocable within the pneumatic cylinder 49 xed to the frame 27. The cylinder 49 is also double-acting, having air conduits 5t) and 51 alternately acting as inlet and exhaust pipes.

Mounted above the table 47 in a fixed position, is the magazine 54, having a rear wall d and side walls 57 and 5S. Interior walls 59 and 6u separate the magazine 54 into three vertical compartments, 61, o?. and 63. The vertical walls of each of the compartments o1, 62, and d3 are so arranged that they will engage respectively three stacks of fillers, such as the side boards 64, the narrower end boards d5 and the opposite side boards 65. The side walls 57 and 5d and interior walls 59 and 6@ are provided with flanges, such as flange 67 of side wall 57 (FIGS. 3-5), having elongated slots 53 through which pass bolts 55 fastened into the rear wall 56. An elongated screw or threaded bolt 53 is secured to the portions of the side walls S7 and 58 in front of the boards 64E-66 to move the side walls S7 and 58 toward and away from each other. This construction permits limited adjustment of the walls 57-61! longitudinally of the rear wall 56 to accommodate boards (s4, 65 and o'r` diiferent sizes.

As disclosed in FlG. 1, the upper portions of the vertical walls may be flared outwardly slightly in order to easily insert the respective boards 64, and 66 into the tops of their corresponding compartments, 61, 62 and 63. As best disclosed in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, the bottom edges of the magazine 5d have an inner Surface ch-amfercd upward and inwardly for a vertical distance approximately equal to the thickness of one of the boards 64-56 to form the gradually enlarged area 69 to facilitate the removal of the bottom board in each stack when the stacks are thrust to the position shown in FlG. 4. 1n this manner, only one board at a time is discharged from each column 64, 65 and 66.

`In order to thrust the stacks 64, 65' and 66 downward, plungers 7&1, '/'1 and 72 depend into the open top portions of each of the corresponding compartments 6446. Each plunger 711-72 is mounted to reciprocate in the stationarily mounted pneumatic cylinders 73, 7:1 and 75, all of which are double-acting and controlled by the alternately reversible air conduits 77 and 7 3.

If desired, all the pneumatic cylinders Zd, 49, 73, '74 and 7S may be supplied from a common source of air pressure, disclosed in FIG. 1. The common air pressure pipe 30 supplies branch pipes 22, 50 and 77, while common air pressure pipe 81 supplies the other branch pipes 23, 51 and 78.

The left legs 83 of the feeder frame 27 (FIG. 1) also support a bracket 84 above the path of the web feed for mounting a pair of power driven rolls 8S and 56, similar to the rolls 31 and 32. The rolls 85 and S6 may be drivingly connected to each other and the motor 87 by means of the belts 88 and 89, the pulleys 913 and 91, as disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 2. The motor S7 is tixedly mounted on the feeder frame 27. The feed rolls and 86 are adapted to alternately feed the top web 93 of sheet material of fusible plastic, such as vinyl, beneath the idler roll 94, so that the top web 93 will be fed at the same speed and in an adjacent parallel path above the bottom web 34. The spacing of the roller g4 is such that the top web 93 will be fed toward the press and lying on top of the boards 64, 65' and 66.

ln order to pull the assembled webs 34- and 93, and the boards 64, 65 and 66 between the webs, a pair of pulling rolls 97 and 98 are journaled in a bracket 99 at the left end of the press 1:3 (FIG. l) so that the upper roll 97 engages the top of the finished laminated product 10), while the bottom roll 93 engages the bottom surface of the product 10d. The pulley rolls 97 and 93 may both be positively driven from the motor 162. mounted on the press frame 16, through the clutch mechanism 163, sprocket 164, chain 1&5, and sprocket 1%, as best disclosed in FIG. 10. Either or both the rolls 97 and 93 are preferably provided with a brake mechanism in order to control the feeding apparatus, so that it is continuously feeding while the press 15 is inoperative, and so that the feeding will stop to accurately register the webs 34 and 93 and the boards 64, 65 and 66 on the lower platen 17 with the die 19 for pressing the same, a novel indexing means is provided. Mounted on the front of the magazine 54 is a solenoid 110 adapted, when energized, to thrust a wedge-shaped punch 111 downward below the bottom edge of the magazine 54 to cut a notch 112 in the margin of the bottom web 34 when the support plate 47 is thrust upward to the position disclosed in FIG. 4. Although the punch 111 may be located at any pre-determined position, it is disclosed in FlG. l as substantially aligned with the center line of the end board 65, and consequently the center line of the looseleaf binder 160. When the web 34 is fed into the press 15 and the notch 11?. is in vertical alignment with the center line of the die 19, a biased switch linger 113 pivotally mounted at 114, will drop into the notch 11?. and contact the copper plate 115, mounted in the lower platen 17, to close the electrical circuit 12.5. When the bottom web 34 moves the slot 112 out of registry with the switch linger 113, the switch linger 113 will be raised or cammed upward to again ride on the upper surface of the bottom web 34.

Another switch 11S is stationarily mounted adjacent one side of the vertical path of the upper platen 18, as 'best disclosed in FlG. l0. This switch 11S is provided with a switch arm 119 4which is momentarily engaged -by a lug 126 on the platen 13 as the platen passes the switch 118 on its upward stroke. During the engagement of lug 120 with switch arm 119, the switch 118 is momentarily closed. After the platen 18 has passed the switch arm 119 and throughout the descent of the platen 10, the switch 118 remains open.

The circuit for connecting all the above described switches in order to control the feeding and indexing means for the apparatus is disclosed in FIG. l0. Electric power is supplied to the circuit through the leads 123 and 124. The power circuits 123 and 124 supply four parallel circuits. One of the parallel circuits is the index circuit 125 including in series, the switch 113-115, solenoid 110, the coil of electromagnetic switch 125 and the controls 12.7 for the press 15. The second parallel circuit is the motor circuit 129. The third parallel circuit is the brake-clutch control circuit 1311, which includes the electromagnetic switch 126, and the solenoid 131 for actuating the brake mechanism 168 and the solenoid 132 for actuating the clutch mechanism 103 in parallel circuits 133 and 134, respectively. The fourth parallel circuit is the starting circuit 135, including starting switch 118, which also controls the solenoids 131 and 132.

The operation of the invention will now be described:

With all of the elements of the apparatus initially in their inoperative positions disclosed in FIG. l, power is supplied to the circuits 123 and 124 to start the motor 102 through the circuit 129. While the switch linger 113 is not engaging a notch 112, the circuit 125 is open. However, when the coil on the electro-magnetic switch 126 is de-energized, the switch 126 will close the circuit 130 to energize solenoids 131 and 132, and thereby de-actuate the brake mechanism 108 and actuate the clutch mechanism 103 to drive pulling rolls 97 and 98. With the circuit 125 open, the press controls 127 will maintain the press inoperative. Therefore, the press 15 must be manually actuated until notches 112 are formed to automatically control the press and feeding cycles. Power may also be supplied from the power supply circuits 123 and 124 to the feed roll motors 39 and 87, if desired.

In order to initiate the formation of laminated products 100, the operator pushes the starter button, not shown, on the press 15 to feed compressed air from the supply pipe 88 simultaneously to the pipes 22, 50 and 77 to simultaneously actuate the cylinders 20, 49, 73, 74 and 75. The push button starter switch must also be synchronized with solenoids 131 and 132 to bring the pulling rollers 97 and 98 to a full stop while all the pneumatic cylinders are being actuated. The cylinder 49 thrusts the table 47 upwardly to carry the supported portion of the bottom web 34 upward against the bottom of the magazine 54, as disclosed in FIG. 4. Simultaneously, the plungers 70, 71 and 72 are thrusting the stacks 64, y65 and 66 downward to register the corresponding bottom boards in the chamfered areas 69 to facilitate release of these boards upon the top surface of the bottom web 34. Since adhesive is applied to the top surface of the web 34 by the adhesive applicators 42, the bottom boards 64, 65 and `66 will adhere to the top surface of the bottom web 34. Simultaneously the cylinder thrusts the upper platen 18 to seal the die 19 against the bottom platen 17, and the dielectric heating of the platens will fuse the top web 93 to the bottom web 34 to form pockets completely surrounding the individual boards 64, 65 and 66. Also in the initial operation, the solenoid 110 will have to be separately energized in order for the punch 111 to form a notch 112 in the margin of the bottom web 34.

It is also within the scope of this invention to entirely eliminate the solenoid 111) and merely mount a punch 111 fixed against the front of the magazine 54 with the punch 111 extended below the bottom edge of the magazine 54. Thus, when the table 45 is thrust upwardly to force the `bottom web 34 against the bottom margin of the magazine 54, then the punch 111 will automatically cut the notch 112 in the web 34.

After the heating cycle has been completed in the press 15, timing mechanisms, not shown, will automatically force compressed air through the supply pipe 81 to reverse the flow of air through the cylinders 20, 49, 73, 74 and 75 to retract the upper platen 1-8, support plate 47 and plungers '70, 71 and 72 to their original inoperative positions. However, as the platen 1-8 rises, the lug 120 will engage the switch arm 119 to momentarily close the switch 118 and energize the solenoids 131 and 132 to de-actuate the brake mechanism 108 and actuate the clutch mechanism 103 to resume driving the pulling rolls 97 and 98.

The automatic operation of the apparatus will begin when the first notch 112 registers with the switch finger 113. This time the registry of the switch finger 113 with the notch 112 will close the circuit 125 and thereby energize the solenoid 110 to actuate the punch 111 to form a subsequent notch 112. The closed circuit 125 -will also energize the coil of the electro-magnetic switch 126 to open this switch in the circuit 130 thereby deenergizing the solenoids 131 and 132 to immediately stop the rotation of the pulling rolls 97 and 98, to precisely register the boards 64, 65 and 66 with the die 19. Energization of circuit 125 will again automatically operate the press controls 127 to repeat the air cycle in the cylinders 20, 49, 73, 74 and 75. After the pressing cycle is completed, the Iweb feeding is resumed when the upper platen 18 6 momentarily closes the switch 118 to energize the circuit 136.

It will be noted that the switch 118 only has to be closed long enough to start the pulling rolls 97 and 98 which pull the bottom web 34 forward, drawing the notch 112 out of registry with the switch finger 113. Thus, by the time the upper platen 18 has risen above switch arm 119 to open the switch 118, the circuit 130 has taken over the controls of operating the pulling rolls 97 and 98.

It will be understood that when the walls 57-61) of the magazine 54 are adjusted to accommodate a particular size of boards 64-66, a die 19 of corresponding size is also substituted on the upper platen 18.

By adjusting the turnbuckles 26, the feeder frame Z7 may be longitudinally adjusted with the press frame 16 in order to regulate the formation of the index notch 112 so that the assembled webs and boards -will accurately align vertically with the die 19. Moreover, the turnbuckles 26 are adjusted to align the axes of the rollers 31, 32, and 86 at right angles to the feeding axis of the webs 34 and 93. The turnbuclrles 26 are also provided to minimize the web spacing between the laminated products 100, and therefore reduce waste.

It will be apparent to those skilled in. the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is shown in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for feeding materials to a press cornprising:

(-a) first, second, third and fourth stations spaced progressively toward said press, said first station being remote from said press,

(b) a first feed roll mounted at said first station for feeding a rst web having top and bottom surfaces longitudinally toward said press,

(c) means at said second station for applying adhesive to said top surface,

(d) a vertically disposed magazine for supporting a stack of boards above said top surface at said third station, and for depositing one board at a time upon said top surface before said first web passes through said fourth station,

(e) a second feed roll at said fourth station for feeding a second web toward said press in an adjacent parallel path to said first web and on top of said boards adhered to said first web, and

(f) means moving said assembled first and second webs and boards through said press.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which said magazine comprises vertical walls adapted to snugly engage the edges of said boards, a plunger mounted for vertical reciprocation above said magazine, and means for actuating said plunger to force said stack of boards downward to deposit one board at a time upon the top surface of said first web.

3. An apparatus for feeding materials to a press comprising:

(a) first, second, third and fourth stations longitudinally spaced progressively toward said press,

(b) a first feed roll mounted at said first station for feeding a first web having top and bottom surfaces longitudinally toward said press,

(c) means at said second station for applying adhesive to said top surface,

(d) a vertically disposed magazine for supporting a stack of boards above said top surface at said third station,

(e) a second feed roll at said fourth station for feeding a second web toward said press in an adjacent parallel path to said first web and on top of said boards adhered to said first web,

(f) means on the opposite side of said press from said a stations for pulling said assembled webs and boards periodically through said press, and

(g) means for rendering said pulling means inoperative when said press is operative upon said webs and said boards to form a laminated product.

4. The invention according to claim 3 in which said magazine comprises vertical walls adapted to snugly engage the edges of said boards, and a plunger for forcing said stack downward between said walls, and means for operating said plunger periodically to force one board at a time upon the top surface of said first web.

5. The invention according to claim i in which the bcttom edges of said vertical walls are spaced proximate to and above the path of said rst web in said third station, said bottom portions of said vertical Walls being substantially equal to the thickness of a single board and tapering downwardly and outwardly to facilitate releasing one board at a time from said magazine.

6. The invention according to claim 4 in which said magazine comprises first, second and third vertical cornpartments, a iirst stack of side boards in said irst compartment, a second stack of narrower edge boards in said second compartment, and a third stack of opposite side boards in Said third compartment, a plunger for each stack adapted to be operated simultaneously to deposit a board from each compartment simultaneously upon the top surface of said rst web, said press having a die conforming to said first, second and third boards in order to shape said webs and boards into looseleaf binders.

7. The invention according to claim 4 further providing means for synchronously operating said pulling means, said press and said plunger to pull said webs and boards through said press when said press and said plunger are inoperative, and to stop said pulling means when said press and said plunger are operative.

8. The invention according to claim 7 further providing a substantially horizontal table mounted for vertical reciprocation beneath said rst web at said third station, and operative means connected to said synchronous means for moving said table upward to carry said first web upward against the bottom of said magazine when said plunger is operative to force said stack downward.

9. The invention according to claim 7 in which said Cil 8 synchronous means include means for indexing said first web, and means cooperative with said indexing means for stopping said pulling means so that said press may form successive, laminated products.

1t?. The invention according to claim 9 in which said pulling means comprises a pair of rolls for engaging opposite sides of said laminated products, a motor for driving one of said rolls, a clutch coupling said motor to said roll, brake means on said roll, and means synchronous with said indexing means for simultaneously disengaging said clutch and engaging said brake means to said roli when said indexing means is operative to stop said pulling means, and for simultaneously engaging said clutch and disengaging said brake means from said roll when said indexing means is inoperative.

11. The invention according to claim 9 in which said indexing means comprises means between said iirst station and said press for forming an index mark on said web when said pulling means is stopped, means adapted to sense said index marl; when said sensing means registers with said index mark, `and electrical means connecting said sensing means with said pulling means to stop said pulling means when said sensing means registers with said index mark.

12. The invention according to claim 11 in which said index mark comprises a notch, and said sensing means comprises an electrical switch having a make and break contact tinge-r for engaging said notch when said notch moves in registry with said linger.

R ierences Cited UNTED STATES PATENTS 2,366,572 1/1945 Sutter 156-464 2,968,336 1/1961 Martin et al. 156-274 2,970,634 2/1961 Hantscho 156-202 2,977,271 3/1961 Lutwack 156-108 2,991,214 7/1961 Burkholder 156-301 3,043,737 7/1962 Engelstein 156-196 EARL M. BERGERT, Primary Examiner.

HAROLD ANSHER, Examiner. 

